Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2022 Oct 7:43:58.
doi: 10.11604/pamj.2022.43.58.36231. eCollection 2022.

Assessment of drug use in primary health centers in Lagos State, Nigeria

Shakirat Adeshiyan Adeosun  1 , Arinola Eniola Joda  1 , Roseline Iberi Aderemi-Williams  1 , Olubukola Olusola Oyetunde  1
Affiliations
Observational Study

Assessment of drug use in primary health centers in Lagos State, Nigeria

Shakirat Adeshiyan Adeosun et al. Pan Afr Med J. .

Abstract

Introduction: rational drug use prevents wastage of resources, loss of confidence in healthcare system and drug-related morbidity and mortality. This study aims to assess drug use in Primary Health Centers (PHCs) in Lagos State, Nigeria using the World Health Organization in collaboration with the International Network of Rational Use of Drugs core drug use indicators.

Methods: the study was conducted between February to October 2021 as a comparative observational survey of selected PHCs. It included a retrospective and prospective cross-sectional design for prescribing and patient care indicators assessing 2640 prescriptions and clients respectively. Data were analyzed and presented as frequency with percentage or mean with standard deviation, as applicable. The performances of the types of PHCs were compared using two-sample t-test. A 2-tailed p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: average number of drugs per prescription, drugs prescribed by the generic name, percentage of encounters with prescribed antibiotics and injections were 3.6 ± 0.9%, 76.5 ± 18.5%, 63.3 ± 19.1% and 21.1 ± 24.1% respectively with no significance difference between the comprehensive and basic PHCs. For all the facilities, the average consultation and dispensing times were 10.5 ± 6.0 minutes, 244.9 ± 179.2 seconds respectively. In this study, the percentage of patients' knowledge of the correct dosage was 72.4 ± 38.3%. There is statistically significant difference in availability of key drugs in stock between the comprehensive and basic PHCs (p-value 0.0001).

Conclusion: irrational drug use practices exist in comprehensive and basic PHCs. There is a need to implement interventions aimed at strengthening good prescribing and patient-care practices across the PHCs in Lagos State.

Keywords: Drug use; Lagos State; Nigeria; primary health centres.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Afriyie DK, Tetteh R. A description of the pattern of rational drug use in Ghana Police Hospital. Int J Pharm Pharmacol. 2014;3(1):143–148.
    1. Mostafa NR, Moustafa SA, Akl O, Deghedi BS. Assessment of drug use in family health facilities in Alexandria. Journal of High Institute of Public Health. 2018;48(2):107–113.
    1. World Health Organization . WHO Policy Perspect Med. 2002. Promoting rational use of medicines: core components.
    1. Holloway KA, Henry D. WHO essential medicines policies and use in developing and transitional countries: an analysis of reported policy implementation and medicines use surveys. PLoS Med. 2014 Sep 16;11(9):e1001724. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gashaw T, Sisay M, Mengistu G, Amare F. Investigation of prescribing behavior at outpatient settings of governmental hospitals in eastern Ethiopia: an overall evaluation beyond World Health Organization core prescribing indicators. J Pharm Policy Pract. 2018 Oct 15;11:26. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types